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Salary increase on tap for Chatham County Commission

The Chatham County Commission will consider increasing the base salary for commissioners from $17,344 to $25,000 and the chairman from $50,300 to $57,500 on Friday.

State law only allows salary adjustments to be considered at the end of the commission’s four-year term, and the proposed increases would take effect when the new board takes its seats in January.

County Manager Russ Abolt said it is important to ensure adequate pay to attract qualified candidates and deter the potential for corruption.

“They are not being made wealthy by it, but also not suffering as a result of the service,” Abolt said.

Five of the current board members set to consider the increase have been re-elected and will be joining the four new commissioners next year.

Incumbent commissioners Patrick Farrell, James Holmes, Dean Kicklighter, Helen Stone and Priscilla Thomas currently sit on the board and will be returning to represent their districts. The increase would also apply to incoming commissioners Lori Brady, Tony Center and Yusuf Shabazz, in addition to Chairman-elect Al Scott.

The board of commissioners have not had a base salary increase since 2001, according to a memo from County Attorney Jon Hart.

State law does provide for a 2.5 percent longevity increase every time a commissioner begins a new term, said Assistant County Manager Michael Kaigler. That provision was not discovered until this year and as a result, the sitting commissioners have been allotted a total of $24,738 in retroactive pay after they did not receive the increases.

Chairman Pete Liakakis’ retroactive pay amounts to $5,152, while the commissioners’ allotment is $1,398 to $1,864.

The last cost-of-living pay increase for county employees was in 2008. In October, commissioners unanimously approved an increase to annual employee longevity pay by $75. That increase came after commissioners approved $1,000 employee bonuses in March.

After Friday’s reading, the ordinance amendment will require a vote at the next meeting before the commission salary increase is implemented.

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